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Sunday, May 29, 2011

More Kindred Spirits, Cooking, and a Quilting Conundrum

I forgot the chart when away from the house, but was still able to stitch--thank you border! :D Usually, I pack EVERYTHING but the Needle. :)

Out of season, but these steam-fried yams were so good! The recipe calls for a black sesame garnish, but I used fresh-grated nutmeg and cinnamon instead. I glugged in a little extra oil, and they did come out too oily! As the recipe says, it REALLY only needs one tablespoon. They won't get too oily if you do over-use as the potatoes are surprisingly non-porous.

I took the good advice of Myra, Nancy and others and tried making a little sample bit of finished machine quilting.

I think I really need some supplies such as gloves for grip and a slide-facilitating plate to put down around the plate. It'd be even better if I had a sewing table which puts the plate on the level of the whole table. I could only have one if it folds up, however, due to space constraints. I hope they make one, but have doubts due to the likelihood of stability problems for a collapsible table. Do you, gentle readers, know of any?

One side is muslin, and one cotton. The quality of the quilting is dubious and inconsistent, but it will hold and may make a decent needle roll. I told Marc my stars look scared. :)

But, here's my real conundrum:

This was the walking foot, which I tried in the hope of preventing this sort of thing from happening at the end of a row! :P

Here's the ditch-quilting foot which helps you follow a line closely, and it's a little cinchy. It was my first attempt, but it was "off" enough to make me try the walking foot.

Here's the other side of the seam; the problem here is less severe but can also be seen.

Do I need more pins? Did I not iron the top flat enough and so it's too large for the base? I begin to see why a binding is put on at the end of a quilt. :) But, this little scrap-lab called for a turned finish to conserve fabric. I may just resort to hand-quilting, although I wanted to learn/use machine.

14 comments:

Well, if you ahd any questions on hooking, I would be able and glad to help you, but quilting is and will always remain a mystery to me, I'm afraid. I think your work looks beautiful. Wow, you managed to make stars with a machine!!!

I love your stitchy piece. Obviously. Oooh, and the sweet potatoes! Had some myself just now. They're like candy, anre't they?

I'm no expert -- but wonder if perhaps the sandwich wasn't tight enough. I usually tape the backing to floor (or table if a small quilt) and make sure there are no wrinkles. Then layer the batting and top. I begin pinning in the center, making sure there are no puckers. I use a lot of pins -- one every 3 inches or so. Then I do ditch quilting to join everything together (i.e. corner to corner, around each block, etc.) If that doesn't fit with the planned quilting, I do it with a large basting stitch so I can remove it later.

Your new start is so cute--glad you were able to work on the border even without the chart. I just returned from almost two weeks away and forgot to take the color codes!! Thank goodness it was a PS ornament design and I'm so familiar with them I could stitch a bit anyway :)

I'm no expert, Berit, but LiahonaGirl does it exactly like me..that is how I learned in my quilting class. Tape that first layer (bottom) down snug on a table (I use the island in my kitchen) and then place your batting on top of that and your pieced top on that. Then start pinning from the center. I use a ton of pins! Nary a pucker. I did have to practice about a hundred hours to get my quilting down..just buy some yards of batting, make some layers, and have a go. A walking foot is worth more than gold. lol.

I'm a would-be quilter, I really love the result and I have had to really look for the problem here. I have been advised to sandwich and baste from the center to the edges, like forming a sun/star. I've also been told to baste in spiral. I haven't tried any of these methods but in case they can help...Lovely stitching too, and the fabric is great for the design.Hugs!